Jesse West complains of prison conditions

Jesse Blue West told investigators in 2007 that he was suffering more than the families of his alleged victims.

“They don’t have any more heartache than I do. I can guarantee that,” he told Det. Brian Kwak and Cpl. Bob Page during an interview recorded at North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam on April 3, 2007.

The tape was played Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court in Chilliwack as part of West’s trial for the first-degree murder of 14-year-old Chelsey Acorn of Abbotsford.

It was recorded after West asked to talk to investigators about other homicides.

In Wednesday’s recording, West, now 61, clarifies that he meant three victims, including Acorn.

But he refuses to provide the names or any other details of the other two victims unless his terms are meant. These demands include being moved from “the hole” – prison segregation – where he says he is suffering “cruel and unusual punishment.”

“(They are) a bunch of drug-addicted people that are just disgusting … Some of them shouldn’t even be in prison; they should be in mental institutions,” he says of the other prisoners.

Other terms he mentions include spending the afternoon with a police officer just to talk, visiting with friends and family in a coffee shop rather than prison, $4,000 cash, and being sprung from jail for three weeks to visit the gravesites of his victims without police accompaniment.

Kwak and Page try to convince West that providing details of the other supposed murders will provide closure for the families who are missing a loved one and enable them to have a proper burial.

“You took the lives of three people … They’re gone now because of you. Now the only thing you can ask for is forgiveness, and that’s what you’re doing for yourself … You get to live with yourself, knowing you did the right thing,” Kwak says.

He tells West that others will see him a “manipulative, selfish, insecure murderer who had no concern with sticking that body in that hole,” rather than someone who is remorseful for his crimes.

West continues to insist his terms be meant, lamenting that if he were to give police the details, he would get nothing in return.

“The minute I give you a name, a location, I have another charge of murder against me,” he says.

At one point during the interview, both officers leave the room, and West speaks aloud.

“I’ve got a lot of regrets in my life, believe me … I’m sorry. I’m sorry for f—-ing up five or six people’s lives … Something I’ve got to live with … You think it’s going to be easy sitting in a courtroom with someone’s mother?”

After two and a half hours of urging West to provide details of the other crimes, Kwak leaves the room in frustration.

“I think you’re being totally selfish … I don’t think you give a sh– about anybody but yourself … This is not a game. Chelsey Acorn’s life was taken by you and that’s a pity … I’m done!” Kwak yells at West before leaving the room.

West was never charged with any other murders, and his judge-only trial continues in Chilliwack.

Acorn was reported missing from an Abbotsford foster home in June 2005, and her remains were found the following April in a shallow grave in a wooded area outside of Hope.

West’s son, Dustin Moir, now 26, was convicted in February 2010 of Acorn’s murder and is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.